We were on our way up to New York when LaGuardia airport informed our pilots that they didn't have an airport to land in. It hadn't occured to AirTran to check the weather channel to see that the whole northeast was in a white out. So we had to be diverted to Baltimore, the ugliest city in the dullest of the 50 states (but it was founded as a haven for Catholics, y'know). Neither my dad or I like to sit around airports waiting for snow to melt, so we rented a nice little Lincoln and drove the remaining distance from Baltimore to New York-- which was immensely satsfying, I have to say.
I got there about 6 hours the next morning to myself around NYU and Greenwich. I took the campus tour, information session, walked around the square. Let me put it this way: unless I'm severely disappointed with Chicago (which I'm visiting tomorrow and tuesday... overnight!), then I'm not going to NYU. That said, it is an extemely cool university. They say there's no traditional campus, but I can definitely "sense" a community spirit around Washington Square. The college of art and sciences sounds very cool, you can take some amazing art/drama classes through Tisch and meet world-famous artists and professors, and study abroad in NYU satellite campuses in, among others, Tuscany.
The thing is, I feel like in order to get the most out of NYU, you have to be totally in love with New York City. Essentially, people don't go to NYU for the classes; they go there because it's in friggin New York, and for whatever benefits that might provide for them. Well... I'm not really in love with New York. It tends to depress me with its vast size; Pat Conroy said it, and I have grudgingly reprinted it here many times, that "New York has too many stories." Maybe it's because I focus too much on the bad things in New York; for example, I notice and dwell on every bit of poverty I see. It just kills me to see a homeless person, or to see poor children walking in the snow, or simply to think about all the lonely people living aimlessly in the biggest city in the world. I ate lunch at a Greek restaurant in Greenwich on Tuesday, and this old homeless man, clean-shaven, saunters into the restaurant and sits at a table across from me... talking to himself. It sounds like he's reciting random mumblings from William Burrough-like writing. "I think that the best thing in the world is a cup of coffee," I'll never forget that he said once. Finally the waitress, a strong Greek woman, came and told him that she'd call the police if he didn't leave. "What am I supposed to do? Eat peanut butter all day?" he responded. It was one of the saddest things I'd ever seen. And those of you who know of my compulsion to give money to bums, you know I would spend more than an NYU tuition on bills given to street persons if I lived there.
New York City never gels with me, and it's frustrating because all of my friends love it. It's also frustrating because I know what it's like to go to a city and just feel a wave of excitement, comfort, and possibility all at the same time, like that city is the best place on earth. I know what New York-lovers feel when they're in their favorite city, because I've felt the same way: unfortunately, it was in Chicago.
I don't deny that I could learn to love New York if I lived there, especially if I went to NYU. But I simply couldn't imagine myself there. Oh well. It's still #2.
I got there about 6 hours the next morning to myself around NYU and Greenwich. I took the campus tour, information session, walked around the square. Let me put it this way: unless I'm severely disappointed with Chicago (which I'm visiting tomorrow and tuesday... overnight!), then I'm not going to NYU. That said, it is an extemely cool university. They say there's no traditional campus, but I can definitely "sense" a community spirit around Washington Square. The college of art and sciences sounds very cool, you can take some amazing art/drama classes through Tisch and meet world-famous artists and professors, and study abroad in NYU satellite campuses in, among others, Tuscany.
The thing is, I feel like in order to get the most out of NYU, you have to be totally in love with New York City. Essentially, people don't go to NYU for the classes; they go there because it's in friggin New York, and for whatever benefits that might provide for them. Well... I'm not really in love with New York. It tends to depress me with its vast size; Pat Conroy said it, and I have grudgingly reprinted it here many times, that "New York has too many stories." Maybe it's because I focus too much on the bad things in New York; for example, I notice and dwell on every bit of poverty I see. It just kills me to see a homeless person, or to see poor children walking in the snow, or simply to think about all the lonely people living aimlessly in the biggest city in the world. I ate lunch at a Greek restaurant in Greenwich on Tuesday, and this old homeless man, clean-shaven, saunters into the restaurant and sits at a table across from me... talking to himself. It sounds like he's reciting random mumblings from William Burrough-like writing. "I think that the best thing in the world is a cup of coffee," I'll never forget that he said once. Finally the waitress, a strong Greek woman, came and told him that she'd call the police if he didn't leave. "What am I supposed to do? Eat peanut butter all day?" he responded. It was one of the saddest things I'd ever seen. And those of you who know of my compulsion to give money to bums, you know I would spend more than an NYU tuition on bills given to street persons if I lived there.
New York City never gels with me, and it's frustrating because all of my friends love it. It's also frustrating because I know what it's like to go to a city and just feel a wave of excitement, comfort, and possibility all at the same time, like that city is the best place on earth. I know what New York-lovers feel when they're in their favorite city, because I've felt the same way: unfortunately, it was in Chicago.
I don't deny that I could learn to love New York if I lived there, especially if I went to NYU. But I simply couldn't imagine myself there. Oh well. It's still #2.
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